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I’m clueless about most sports — so much so that I didn’t even realize until late last week that the Superbowl is this Sunday. This amuses/irritates my husband a wee bit.

What I’m not clueless about is snacking, and appetizers, and munchies. This is a good thing in my household. In lieu of a painfully awkward post about me and football, I thought I’d just share the recipes to a few of my favorite (easy, quick, foolproof) party foods.

1.) Anything wrapped in puff pastry. It’s amazing what you can do with a wheel of brie, a package of ready-made puff pastry (from the freezer section), some sort of brie-friendly condiment, and an oven. Thaw and then roll out the dough, cut it into squares, place a small bit of brie and a dollop of apricot jam, mango chutney, or whatever makes you drool in the middle of each square, fold it into a bundle, and bake until golden. This works well with chicken-apple sausage and dijon mustard, too.

2.) Pulled pork. There are a gazillion ways to make pull pork, and I might try to reconcile with my crock pot by slow cooking a whole bunch of meat and sauce in it. Chris, at Ordering Disorder, has a great recipe for shredded beef sandwiches that’s making my mouth water.

3.) Mini pizzas. You don’t have to get all fancy — even regular pizza tastes better when bite sized. (If you do want to get all fancy, though, my favorite Tandoori Chicken Pizza is a good one to try.) You can set out a toppings bar and have everyone concoct their own, making it a meal and an activity all in one.

5.) Veggies that aren’t crudites. How about marinading some zucchini, summer squash, peeled eggplant, red onion, and grape tomatoes in Italian dressing, stringing them on skewers, and grilling them (indoors, on a grill pan, given that it’s barely above freezing where I live)? Serve them with couscous on the side.

8.) Brownies. Pick your favorite recipe and make a lot of them. I like this one, from Mary at Owlhaven. She has 10 kids and is writing a cookbook; this is a woman who knows a good brownie when she sees one. (If your family is gluten free — half of mine is — Bob’s Red Mill makes a good mix.)

There’s also a wealth of ideas in the Busy Chef group here at Work It, Mom!

So who are you rooting for? And, more important, what are you going to be eating?

One comment so far...

We live in Texas, so CHILI is a great snack. But because we live in Texas, I think the chili recipes get pretty elaborate. I like a very simple recipe that I’ve been using for years.

I make it in the crock pot, so I can take it any where or sit it on the counter for snacking at our house.

Brown 1-2 pounds ground beef (or ground turkey or whatever “meat” you like)
Add 2 can diced tomatoes (whatever you have in the pantry)
Add a pack of McCormick’s chili seasoning (whatever “hotness” you like)
Add beans (kidney or black are my favorite) if you must…my husband thinks chili should not have beans, but I’m from Oklahoma so I like them.

That’s it. You can serve it with cheese or onions or whatever as toppings.